Sunday, December 11

Advent 2011

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us . . .

full of grace and truth."

It had not dawned on me until I was preparing this meditation that the God of the Old Testament had been anything BUT a God of grace.He had delivered his people, fed and watered them, given them laws to live by, given them orders to take the land and cities, and promised to be with them in doing that.He presided over a time of such bloodletting that it is difficult for us to reconcile that God with a loving God who forgives sin and walks with us.But John says that God sent Jesus, the Word who had been around the whole time, to demonstrate his (God's) grace.There is great significance to me that God sent the baby Jesus in the flesh to live here on earth with us that we might touch him, look at him, watch what he did and how he lived.We need not have been with him personally those 30 years, for we have the testimony of men such as John who did see and hear him and have written that we might know for sure what he did.

After he was here and returned to the Father, he sent the Holy Spirit to seek us out and help us live as we feel he wants.And once we have received this grace, we are compelled to share with others we know who need to hear this story.So now 2,000 years later we continue to sing and tell this story, especially at Christmas when we celebrate the birth of the babe who indeed is flesh and grace and truth.